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Will Kennedy’s Remarks Hog the Attention in Iowa?

By Patrick Healy November 29, 2007 4:12 pmNovember 29, 2007 4:12 pm

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for president today, and headed out to campaign for her in Iowa — a state where he once told residents, “large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.”

Mr. Kennedy, a fellow New Yorker, is a longtime environmental lawyer and the chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit that supports global clean water programs.

According to news accounts at the time, in April 2002, in the Des Moines Register and the New York Post, Mr. Kennedy made the comparison during a Waterkeeper rally in Iowa on hog farm issues. The group has long raised concerns about the environmental fall-out from large-scale animal raising enterprises.

A Register editorial denounced his comments as “idiotic” and “ridiculous,” and the paper’s leading political columnist, David Yepsen — who Mrs. Clinton and other candidates now eagerly court — said that Mr. Kennedy’s comments were “one of the crudest things ever said in Iowa politics.”

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Phil Singer, said yesterday, “We aren’t going to agree with everything that every one of our supporters has said.”

I guess Hillary still likes to play around with that self-destruct button, that is unless “Bubba” can stop fiddling with it first.

Seriously, why would you have somebody campaign for you in an area they directly insulted with this statement – “large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.” and then say “we don’t agree with everything he said.” ?

I’m sure that if we cornered Kennedy, he’d tell us that we should all vote for Hillary and forget about third party candidates because she is the most likely to win and because she comes closer to our views than the GOP, but you don’t vote for someone because you think they’re gonna win. You vote and support someone because they are closest to your views.

The Green Party doesn’t support the war. The Green Party doesn’t support the private ownership of land. The Green Party wants an end to the corpocracy that is running Washington. The Green Party wants an end to the destruction which agricultural conglomerates and cattle ranching have caused to the environment.

Robert Kennedy should be a member of the Green Party, not the party of “let’s see if we can get our one or two issues addressed.”

With so many records getting broken, I hope the NYT does not soon set one for indifference to the public interest.
Its handling of the Giuliani-Mistress protection expenses story threatens to overwhelm its lassitude and episodic coverage of early Watergate, Teapot Dome, Grant’s Administration and 1873’s Crédit Mobilier.
Don’t stop the presses. Speed ’em up.

Another Patrick Healy Clinton slam. JFK jr. is second only to Al Gore’s endorsement when it comes to environmental issues. I was wondering how Clinton’s opponents would spin this. Suppose Oprah’s celebrity endorsement tops Kennedy’s endorsement of substance-at least according to Mr. Healy and the NY Times.

#5: Yes, giant hog farms are pretty foul. I am not familiar with the Kennedy statement so not sure this is what he is referring to. Would have been nice if the posting from the NYTimes provided some context for the statement.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is not the visionary his father was. Robert F. Kennedy would be stirred by the dreams of Barack Obama and John Edwards, who are the natural successors to the man who showed America the abject poverty millions of our own citizens live in to this day. Robert F. Kennedy toured Appalachia and the deep south to reveal homes with no running water, no heat or electricity, children dressed in rags with no shoes on their feet. Schools that were little more than tumble-down shacks.

Robert F. Kennedy would find kindred spirits in Obama and Edwards who have worked hard for those with the least. Bobby Kennedy was ready to challenge the status quo and fought for goals that did not end with personal success, but with aid and comfort for those who needed it. He personified the quotation which has come to identify him best: Man’s reach should always exceed his grasp.

Hillary Clinton brings to mind none of those ideals. She holds no special place for the impoverished, but seeks instead to enrich herself and family. The White House is not a place where Hillary sees she can do good for all, just do good for herself and close friends. Her goals is not to change the world, just be elected president, as if it is merely another entry on her paltry resume.

How telling that Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the martyred President, ran not on his brother’s record but his own. How different from Hillary who wraps herself tightly the resume of her husband, assumes roles and titles held by others, inflates her unelected job into something unrecognizable, and — being generous here — fibs about her accomplishments.

Barack Obama and John Edwards will do just fine without the endorsements of the son, but the father must feel some disappointment that someone so shallow and self-centered received from the keeper of his legacy, the bearer of his name, the endorsement which should have rightly gone to others far more deserving.

Re my post #9 – I’m sorry, my mistake. The Times said “Mr. Kennedy made the comparison during a Waterkeeper rally in Iowa on hog farm issues. The group has long raised concerns about the environmental fall-out from large-scale animal raising enterprises.” and I clean missed it.

Jade 72343
Forget the childlike responses (“poetic”) to your extended turgidity (#10) as worthy of coming from Lippman.
It is shallow and petty.
And useful only as a reminder that pretension’s
most dependable ally is amateur political analysis.

Which is worse…RFK making this comment about hog farmers and the Clinton team having to say that they don’t agree with everything that their supporters say or the fact that Barack Obama had a preacher Donnie McClurkin headline a fundraiser for Obama although he is very anti-gay and think that being gay is something that can be cured with prayer.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is not the visionary his father was. Robert F. Kennedy would be stirred by the dreams of Barack Obama and John Edwards, who are the natural successors to the man who showed America the abject poverty millions of our own citizens live in to this day. Robert F. Kennedy toured Appalachia and the deep south to reveal homes with no running water, no heat or electricity, children dressed in rags with no shoes on their feet. Schools that were little more than tumble-down shacks.

Robert F. Kennedy would find kindred spirits in Obama and Edwards who have worked hard for those with the least. Bobby Kennedy was ready to challenge the status quo and fought for goals that did not end with personal success, but with aid and comfort for those who needed it. He personified the quotation which has come to identify him best: Man’s reach should always exceed his grasp.

Hillary Clinton brings to mind none of those ideals. She holds no special place for the impoverished, but seeks instead to enrich herself and family. The White House is not a place where Hillary sees she can do good for all, just do good for herself and close friends. Her goals is not to change the world, just be elected president, as if it is merely another entry on her paltry resume.

How telling that Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the martyred President, ran not on his brother’s record but his own. How different from Hillary who wraps herself tightly the resume of her husband, assumes roles and titles held by others, inflates her unelected job into something unrecognizable, and — being generous here — fibs about her accomplishments.

Barack Obama and John Edwards will do just fine without the endorsements of the son, but the father must feel some disappointment that someone so shallow and self-centered received from the keeper of his legacy, the bearer of his name, the endorsement which should have rightly gone to others far more deserving.

It’s interesting when people keep trying to compare Robert Kennedy to Barack and John Edwards as if they are his successors and RFK jr must be missing something that his father had. If you read and know about Robert Kennedy you would know that he clearly had more common with Hillary Clinton than Barack and John ever did or ever will. Gender aside (probably the only thing they have in common), Hillary and Bobby are very similar. ‘She’s not the beautiful-loser idealist, or the person who’s ambivalent about politics. She loves politics. Just as Bobby Kennedy loved politics. Bobby Kennedy could deal with Cesar Chavez and Mayor Daley. That’s what you need in America.’

Hope is only a word if you do not have a candidate experienced enough to implement it. Support Clinton, Dodd, or Biden?anyone but Obama. Fired up? Ready to go? Please do. Go away and don?t ruin our chance at winning in the general. Look at Jena, LA and tell me that race relations are what you think they are. Then remember the Harold Ford Jr. race and then tell me that Obama will bring us together? Support a real viable candidate and not an EMPTY phrase that your candidate cannot back up. Hillary 08!

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